


So What's Next?

by brinnabot



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Canon Compliant, Gen, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), SPOILERS FOR AVENGERS ENDGAME!!!!!, this is all about bucky and peter, tony and steve are only mentioned briefly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-01
Updated: 2019-05-01
Packaged: 2020-02-10 17:25:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18664990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brinnabot/pseuds/brinnabot
Summary: Based on the art by Anna Lencioni on twitter,HEREThe universe has been saved, but not without casualties. Thanos has been taken down and everyone who had been snapped away is back, but the Avengers are no more. The heroes that are left now have the entire world at their fingertips, so what's next? For Peter Parker and Bucky Barnes, the future is a bit uncertain. But maybe they can help each other figure it out. AKA : After Tony's funeral, the two of them bond for the first time and a beautiful big/little brother relationship is born.





	So What's Next?

“Remember when you pulled me out of that lake, Mister Stark?” Peter watched as his feet dangled over the edge of the dock, swinging back and forth like a pendulum. _“...Tony.”_ He corrected himself, his voice somehow growing even softer. Neither name sounded right, both carrying too much weight as he said them. It was almost enough to make him never want to say either of them again.

“I was so scared that day. I-I really thought I was gonna drown. I know I said I had it all under control, but I didn’t. If you hadn’t found me--” Peter shrugged one shoulder, still hunched over and peering down at the surface of the water. He ran one hand over his cheek and sniffled, trying to ignore the lump in his throat. “I’m sorry for not listening. I should have listened to you.”

Then Peter felt footsteps on the deck. His eyes shifted back but he couldn’t see who it was, and he didn’t feel like turning around. Truthfully he didn’t feel like having company at the moment but if he opened his mouth he was afraid he would snap. He could wait for them to leave if they didn’t say anything.

“Hey, kid.” A greeting came after the footsteps stopped right next to him. “You mind if I stay for a bit? I would find a dock of my own, but my options are pretty limited.”

The voice was familiar but surprising, prompting Peter to turn back and glance up. “Hi Mister Barnes-- _Bucky._ ” He paused. “Bucky is okay, right? And no-no I don’t mind I guess. You can sit. I’m just--” He shrugged again, not wanting to say what he had actually been doing.

Bucky smiled softly and lifted both hands out of his pockets to lower himself down onto the dock. “Talking to Tony?” He asked gently, swinging his feet over the edge as Peter nudged himself over a bit to make room.

Peter’s face twisted in surprise. “Oh. Yeah, actually.” He ducked his head in embarrassment, prompting a few slicked back strands of hair to fall in front of his face as he felt his cheeks flush. “I know that sounds stupid.”

“It’s not stupid.” Bucky shook his head, his gaze directed out over the lake but his eyes remaining unfocused, like he was lost. “I’m sure you have a lot to say to him.”

“You could say that.” Peter replied, his voice cracking just a bit. His eyes filled with tears and he ducked his head again as they began rolling down his cheeks. He did his best to stifle the sobs. “I-I just-- I thought-- he was-- invincible, y-you know? He’s Iron Man! H-He could make it-- make it through _anything---_ ” Peter spoke in broken sentences through jagged breaths, and both his hands flew up to his face. “H-He can’t be dead, he just can’t be--”

There was no perfect answer to what Peter was crying about. There wasn’t a few magic words he could say and make it okay, and there wasn’t a way to change anything. Peter knew that. Whether he was willing to admit it to himself or not. And Bucky was patient enough to just let him calm down again before speaking to him.

“No one is invincible, Peter.” Bucky’s voice was quiet and calm-- perhaps a little bit solemn, but he kept it steady.

“Like you would know.” Peter scoffed, still catching his breath.

Bucky’s gaze left the lake and he turned to the boy next to him with a questioning look. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Who did you lose, Bucky? Huh? That’s right, _no one!_ ” This was exactly what Peter was afraid of-- him snapping. But there was so much emotion boiling underneath his skin, filling his lungs, itching at the tips of his fingers, and he couldn’t stop it. “You and Steve survived this long and you’re both here! How is that fair? Th-That you both get a hundred years and we all lose Tony? How’s that fair?”

Bucky stayed silent, and Peter kept at it.

“So _**you**_ get to be invincible and he doesn’t? He saves everyone and then-- and then he--” Words weren’t working anymore. Peter’s head was full of fog, his hands were clenched tightly into fists and in his frustration he slammed them both down onto the wood of the dock on either side of him. It cracked where he hit it, causing a few splinters to fall into the water. “And then I couldn’t save him. No one could do anything, h-he just--”

Peter looked up hesitantly, eyes red and glassy as he glanced to Bucky and then away again. “Sorry..” His apology was barely audible and he moved his hands into his lap, wringing them together. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

“Maybe not. But look, I’m fine. I’m tough-- I can take it.” It was strange how calm Bucky was. His voice was unwavering, calm, collected, almost like nothing could get to him. 

Peter wondered why he couldn’t be like that. Why he was was sitting here breaking things and crying and yelling at someone who’s done nothing wrong.

Bucky shook his head and tucked some hair behind his ears with a sigh. “This whole superhero life.. it wasn’t ever something I wanted to be involved in, you know. There’s always a chance that something will go wrong and you might not make it out. It’s terrifying as hell. But Tony knew that. You know that, too.” He turned to Peter with a sympathetic look. “It’s not fair. I’m the _last_ person who would ever think to tell you any of this is fair.”

“I’m just so.. **angry.** ”

“Then be angry.” Bucky continued. “Get pissed off, break some more wood, go swing around in your suit-- I don’t know what might work for you, but you let yourself be angry. And then? Someday you won’t be angry anymore. Or, you’ll at least learn to live with it.” 

Peter sat there listening, his chest rising and falling with his shallow breaths as he tried to calm down. “Have you ever been angry like this?” He asked, his voice shaking. It was the only thing he could think to say.

It was silent for a moment, both of them looking at different points out on the water and listening to the soft waves hit the shore. The day was so quiet and peaceful, the sunshine just bright enough to make it seem like nothing was out of place. The universe was back to exactly how it should be-- whether that be balanced or not-- but at the end of one small dock found on one very important planet it just felt.. wrong.

Finally Bucky took a breath and answered. “I spent a long time being angry at a lot of things.”

“And you’re not anymore?”

“I’m not sure.” Bucky ducked his head, mirroring exactly what Peter had done earlier. His metal hand flexed in front of him, almost as if he had just remembered that there was a part of him that had been changed. “I don’t think I’m angry as much as before. There’s nothing I can do about what happened to me. I gotta find my way in all this, and I think I can finally do that. So.. not being angry is a pretty new thing for me.”

Peter let out a breath, one that he had been holding without meaning to. He felt cold, wrapping his arms over his chest and around himself as he began to shiver with anxious energy. The tie around his neck that had felt fine before felt tight now. He just wanted to go home, run straight into his room and curl up into the corner of his bed. Maybe even hang the suit up for a while. 

There was a long drawn out silence, where Peter didn’t answer, before Bucky said something else. “You alright?”

Peter shook his head no. “I just-- I-I-I’m not sure what to do. Or feel, or say or-or anything.”

“I don’t think there’s anyone who’s expecting you to know any of that. The truth is.. a lot of us are feeling lost right now. Everyone is trying to figure out what’s next.”

Peter couldn’t get himself to say anything back. A few moments ago he was feeling too much and now he felt almost numb. Like he couldn’t move, like if he shifted even an inch the entire world would break apart.

“You and I don’t know each other very well, but I get the sense that you carry the weight of world on those little shoulders of yours.” He smiled at the thought, thinking back to his childhood and how he was always around to save a different scrawny kid from getting in over his head. Steve had mentioned Peter from time to time, and whether or not he ever admitted it there was a lot of similarities between him and the kid who called himself Spider-Man. Bucky caught on to it immediately, and everything he had assumed was being proven right as he sat here, finally talking to him. “But right now the world is okay. It’ll continue to be okay if Spider-Man has to take a break for a little while. Besides-- wouldn’t Tony want you to take care of yourself?”

Peter finally looked to him. His eyes were still red but they were wide and full of relief. He nodded slowly, almost to himself, like he had finally made a decision and now was sure that it was the right one. Then his face changed again, tightening into fear. “But.. what if I never want to put the suit back on?”

Bucky gently put a reassuring hand on Peter’s shoulder. “Then you never put it back on. It’s that simple.”

And while those words were reassuring, Peter had a feeling that it would never come to that. Bucky thought it too. But it was a necessary lie for now. Peter needed the fall-back plan, even if it was one he would never need to use.

“Thanks, Bucky.” Peter’s thank you was quiet, but Bucky felt it. There was even a cautious smile stretching up one corner of Peter’s mouth.

Bucky nodded and lifted his hand from Peter’s shoulder, offering up a gentle smile as well. 

“So are we like.. friends now?” He was like a puppy, waiting for approval.

Bucky snorted, a full on smile widening across his face. “Yeah, kid. We’re friends.”

Peter smiled right back, sitting a little taller now even if his hands were pressed underneath his legs as they started swinging back and forth again. “Cool.”

And for the first time since coming back, both of them realized things might just end up being okay.

**Author's Note:**

> Wow wow wow!!! It’s been less than a day and I’ve already gotten 1,000 hits on this!! You guys have no idea how grateful I am that you’re taking the time to read this!! Bucky and Peter are my two favorite Marvel boys and this was the first thing I’ve ever written with the both of them. This little fic means a lot to me, so thank you thank you THANK YOU for all the love so far!!
> 
> These two are such a good duo, I want to write more with the two of them in the future. So! If you guys have any prompts/ideas for Bucky and Peter let me know in the comments!! Maybe someday it’ll be turned into something more ;)


End file.
